Dismay Over Plans for Indonesia’s Captive Dolphins (dumping captive dolphins into the ocean)

The Indonesian government plans to bypass environmental groups and dump captive dolphins in the ocean without proper rehabilitation, according to the Jakarta Animal Aid Network’s press release issued Thursday morning. “Without rehabilitation the dolphins have a very small chance of survival,” Femke Den Haas, Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) founder, said. The Indonesian government plans to return all the dolphins held without permits directly back to the sea without prior retraining. But the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with JAAN in October 2010 that arranged for all dolphins to be rehabilitated by JAAN before being returned to the wild. JAAN runs the world’s largest dolphin rehabilitation center, located on Karimun Jawa Island. “JAAN’s hope is that the government will follow the MOU and place the dolphins in the care of the JAAN for rehab before releas...